Other races scheduled tomorrow pit Emirates Team New Zealand against TFS – Pages Jaunes in match two and ALL4ONE against Artemis in match four.

Match three features BMW ORACLE Racing of the U.S. against Azzurra of Italy. BMW Oracle Racing is a founding member of the WSTA and a well-known brand in professional racing.

The Azzurra team enjoyed prominence in 1983 when it louis vuittonwas the first Italian syndicate to compete in the Louis Vuitton Cup. Now it has a new skipper and helmsman in Francesco Bruni (ITA), the 27th ranked match-racer on the ISAF Open Match Race Rankings list issued 28 October 2009. Bruni has the unenviable task of taking on the mighty BMW Oracle team.

“We have a double responsibility: to carry the Azzurra name and to take the fight to BMW Oracle,” said Bruni, from Palermo, Sicily. “We are very calm about our match tomorrow. We feel our training has gone well and we are comfortable with the manoeuvres. We feel we can face anyone and are happy to take on BMW Oracle.”

Azzurra will race GBR-75 while BMW Oracle, which will be helmed by Gavin Brady of New Zealand, will enter the start box at the starboard end.

The event schedule was thrown into flux this morning whlv bagsen ITA-99, one of two sloops on loan from Italy’s Mascalzone Latino team, was damaged during practice on the Bay of Angels.

“It’s an unfortunate situation, but these crews always push at the highest limits,” said Bruno Troublé, spokesperson for the WSTA. “Even in practice, they’re always trying to gain an edge. We’re confident that the boat can be repaired and will return to racing soon.”

The combined French/German team ALL4replica handbagsONE was sailing ITA-99 when it clipped the transom of the race committee boat. The mishap put a two-meter cut in the starboard side of the hull.

Twenty members of the Mascalzone shore team are on site and some have been working on the repair all day. The yacht could return to action as soon as Monday.

“It’s a practise accident, which is not good, we’re trying to make every effort to fix it,” said Jochen Schuemann (GER), ALL4ONE skipper. “There is a cut on the outer skin. It is a big cut but should be possible to fix.”